Sparks and nicholas e



(NoMddeL) W. A. SPARKS & N. RAPPLEYEA.

BURIAL GASKET.

N0. 320,410. Patented June 16, 1885.

E m-- c UNITED STATES; PATENT OF ICE.

WILLIAM A. SPARKS AND NICHOLAS RAPPLEYEA, ROCHESTER, NEW YORK, ASSIGNORS TO THE STEIN MANUFACTURING COMPANY, OF

SAME PLACE.

BU RlAL-CASKET.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 320,410, dated June 16, 1885.

Application filed April 21, 1884.

To all whom it may concern Be known that we, WILLIAM A. SPARKS and NICHOLAS RAPPLEYEA, both of Rochester, Monroe county, New York, have invented a certain new and useful Improvement in Burial-Gaskets and we do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description of the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, in which- Figure 1 is a bottom view of the lid removed from the casket. Fig. 2 is a top view of the casket with thelid removed. Fig. 3 is a longitudinal vertical section of one edge of the casket enlarged, showing the concealed fastening. Fig. 4 is a cross-section in line as a: of Figs. 1 and 2. Figs. 5, 6, and 7 are detail views of the fastening devices.

Our improvement relates to concealed fastenings for securing the lid to the casket, to be used in the place of the thumb-screws ordinarily used.

The invention consists in improved fastening devices, which look together in the edges of the casket, and a lock to prevent end movement of the lid, all as hereinafter described.

In the drawings,A shows the casket, and B the lid, both of ordinary form and construction. In the top of the sides of the casket are made shallow longitudinal grooves or channels a a, for the hooks to run in. These grooves may be made directly in the wood of the casket, or they may be made in separate strips secured thereon, either of wood or metal. Caskets of this kind are usually cloth-covcred, and the cloth is turned over the edges, covering the grooves, so that the edges of the casket present the usual appearance. Uncovered caskets may, however, be prepared in the same way with the grooves.

G (J are hooks attached on the under side of the casket-lid, and D D are sockets or tubes attached in the top edges of the casket to receive the hooks. The hooks incline forward, and are preferably somewhat concave on their upper surface, as shown. The sock ets are set at the same incline in the wood, so that when the hooks run along the channels and reach the tubes they slide down into them gradually till the upper edge of the hook strikes the projecting farther edge of (No model.)

the tube, when it is fast in place, and can be removed only by a retrograde movement of the lid. The tube D is attached by first boring an inclined hole in the wood, then pressing the tube down in place. The top of the tube is cut at an angle, so that when the tube is fitted in place its top will come square and in line with the top of the wood. The tube is set in the bottom of the groove or channel a, before described, so that the hooks will be guided directly to the tubes when the lid is moved endwise.

0 is a screw, which is inserted through a hole in the lower end of the tube, and enters the wood below the end of the ltube. This screw is not necsssary to hold the tube in place, as it will retain its position by reason of the incline, at which it is inserted and its natural adhesion to the wood; but its use is -to allow the tube to be adjusted in and out,

so that when the hook enters and is seated the hold shall be tight, and there shall be no loose movement or rattling. To move the tube down, the screw is tightened; to raise it the screw is loosened, and the tube drawn up endwise to the proper position by any suitable means. By this means the tubes can be adjusted exactly to receive the hooks and make tight work.

The operation is as follows: The lid is placed over the casket, the hooks resting in the longitudinal grooves or channels in the sides of the casket, and the lid is then pushed forward, the hooks riding in the channels tlll they enter the tubes or sockets. The lid can be placed in any position on the casket and yet ride to place, and a single person can close or open the lid without difficnlty.

By the employment of the tubes or sockets D, set in an inclined position, as described, they are self-holding in the wood, requiring no plates and screws, as in the ordinary devices for the purpose. When the hooks are in place, the strain is upward and in a vertical line against the shoulder in which the tubes rest, and not endwise upon the tubes, so that there is no tendency to work them out endwise. The ordinary attachments are slotted plates, attached by screws, and much expense is saved by simply inserting the tubes. The incline of the tubes forms an inclined way for the hooks, so that they gradually rise and fall in inserting and removing the lid.

One or more of the fastenings on each side of the casket is provided with a locking device to prevent end movement of the lid, as follows: The hook G is slotted longitudinally, and in the slot is pivoted a catch, P, having a shoulder, m, that strikes down into a slot, n, of the tube D, and thus prevents back movement till the catch is raised above the slot. The catch is forced down by a spring, 19, of any suitable kind, that bears upon aprojection or knuckle, r, of the catch. The catch is also provided with an arm, 8, to which is pivoted a thumb-knob or equivalent device, 2;, resting in an opening of the wood of the lid, so that it can be reached by the finger. By pressing down on the knob the catch will be turned on its pivot, so that the shoulder m will clear from the slot a, as before described.

This device is automatic in action, sliding along with the hook and looking at the same time that the hook engages with the tube. 7 It avoids the use of separate fastening devices at the end of the casketsuch as are ordinarily used, and is more efficient in action. The operator, by taking hold of the edge of the lid and pressing upon the knob, can unlock the catch and remove the lid at the same operation.

If desired, the fastenings can be reversed,

the hooks being attached to the casket-body and the tubes or sockets to thelid. If desired, also, the groove on can be made only on one side of the casket instead of both, as above described.

Having described our invention, what we claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. In a burial-casket, a socket consisting of a tube constructed with a beveled upper end and set into an inclined hole in the casket, so that the beveled end will stand level, in combination with a hook attached to the lid, projecting forward in an inclined direction to engage with the inclined edge of the socket, the socket being self-retaining in the Wood by reason ofits incline, as herein set forth.

2. In a burial-casket, the combination of inclined hooks on the under side of the lid, inclined tubes or sockets set into the edges ofthe casket to receive the hooks, and screws passing through the bottom of the tubes for adjusting the same higher and lower, as set forth.

3. In aburial-casket, the combination, with the hook and tube, of a catch pivoted to the hook and a slot formed in the tube with which the catch engages, the catch being provided with means by which it can be operated from the outside of the lid to disengage the parts, as set forth.

4. In a burial-casket, the combination of the tube D, provided with the slot at, the hook O, slotted in its center, the catch P, pivoted in the slot, and provided \vithashoulder, m, which rests in the slot of the tube, and the thumb-knob o, pivoted to an arm, 8, of the catch, as shown and described, and for the purpose specified.

In witness whereof we have hereunto signed carnames in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

W. A. SPARKS. N. RAPPLEYEA.

Witnesses:

GEO. W. LOGAN, R. F. OSG'OOD- 

